Somaliland

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Nairobi, November 3, 2014--Authorities in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland arrested two journalists from privately owned television stations last week after they each aired coverage of a protest in the northwest town of Gabiley, local journalists told CPJ. Authorities arrested Horn Cable TV reporter Mukhtar Nouh Ibrahim on October 30 and SomSat TV reporter Mohamed Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud the following day, news reports said.

Nairobi, May 12,
2014--A regional court in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland remanded two
journalists into custody on Saturday after charging them with libel, false
publication, and anti-state propaganda, according to news reports and the local
Somaliland Journalists' Association.
Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, chairman of the Haatuf Media Network, and Ahmed Ali, chief
editor of the network, were jailed after the hearing, the reports said.

Nairobi, April 8,
2014--Police in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland on Thursday raided
the Hargeisa offices of the independent Somali-language paper Haatuf and
its sister English-language weekly, Somaliland Times, and suspended
them indefinitely, according to local journalists and news reports.

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Nairobi, February 5,
2014--Authorities from the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland on
Monday indefinitely banned the U.K.-based private broadcaster Universal TV in
connection with its critical coverage of the president, local journalists told
CPJ. The station has complied with the directive and is not broadcasting in
Somaliland, according to news reports.

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Nairobi, December
16, 2013--Police in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland on
December 13 raided the Hargeisa offices of the critical independent daily Hubaal,
arrested two staff members, and ordered the publication to be shut down,
according to news reports. This is the third time the paper has been targeted
this year.

Police arrested four
journalists on December 3, 2013, and detained them for nearly a week for
covering a peaceful protest in the capital of the semi-autonomous republic of
Somaliland, according to local journalists and human rights organizations.

Hubaal, Somaliland's critical and much-beleaguered daily newspaper, is
back on newsstands after a presidential pardon last week. The paper was shuttered
on orders of the attorney general in June without explanation. In April, two
gunmen, subsequently identified by authorities as police officers, raided
the office of Hubaaland attacked
its staff after a series of critical articles accusing the government of
nepotism and misuse of office. Editor Hassan Hussein and Managing Director
Mohamed Ahmed were both convicted
on defamation charges last month and given prison terms. The two journalists were
released on bail and are appealing their convictions.

The African Union's special rapporteur on freedom
of expression and access to information, Commissioner Pansy Tlakula,
has launched an auspicious initiative in East Africa to counter criminal defamation
and sedition laws. Since independence, authorities and business interests in
the East and Horn region have used criminal laws on sedition, libel, and insult--often
relics of former, colonial administrations--to silence their critics in the
press. "Criminal defamation laws are nearly always used to punish legitimate
criticism of powerful people, rather than protect the right to a reputation,"
Tlakula said in a statement.

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Nairobi, July 3,
2013--A court in the capital of the semi-autonomous republic of
Somaliland today convicted the manager and editor of the independent daily Hubaal of defamation and sentenced them to
prison.

Hubaal's editor, Hussein Hassan Abdullahi, received
two years, while the paper's manager, Mohamed Ahmed Jama, was sentenced to one year in jail on charges of defamation and false publication of
news capable of disturbing public order, local journalists told CPJ. The court
issued a fine of 2,000,000 Somaliland shillings (US$300) to Hussein and
1,000,000 shillings (US$150) to Mohamed, according to news reports.

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Nairobi, June 12, 2013--The acting attorney general in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland should withdraw his
request to suspend the independent daily Hubaal, the Committee to
Protect Journalists said today. A court ruled on Tuesday that the paper had
been indefinitely suspended at the request of Aden Ahmed Mouse, according to
news reports.